


The Booklord

by Michelle212



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 11:52:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17467043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Michelle212/pseuds/Michelle212
Summary: Team TARDIS is abducted by a mesmerizingly beautiful creature and recruited to help save reality from the bookworms in the only way the Booklord knows how; by following the Booklord's cat companions into the books themselves.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a multi-chapter multi-episode story. The first full "episode" is complete but there will be more episodes to come to fully complete the overarching storyline.

1-

Graham carried the large crock of beef stew over to the old scarred butcher block table, set it down next to the plate of warm fresh bread, and began serving. The first bowl he passed to The Doctor, who was perched on a metal bar stool with a cracked vinyl seat, at the head of the table. The second went to Yaz, who had sat in the wooden chair with the carved high back she preferred, at the foot of the table. The third he passed across to Ryan, who sat in a chrome and red chair that would have fit right in at any 50's themed diner. The last Graham set in front of himself before pulling up a nicely padded black office chair and sitting down. He broke a fistful of the bread off and passed it on before grinning and announcing, “Soups on.” 

The Doctor pulled off a bit of bread as Yaz sniffed the stew experimentally. “Smells good.”

Graham gave a huff. “Of course. What did you expect?”

Ryan pulled off a large chunk of bread that was nearly a third of the loaf “No worry. He used to cook for Gramma and I sometimes. His stuffs real good.” And past the last piece of the bread to Yaz.

Yaz set the bread down and took a careful taste of the dark stew. It was thick, rich, and delicious. The vegetables were soft and the beef melted in her mouth it was so tender. “Oh that is good. Really good.” She dug in with gusto.

The Doctor gestured with her bread. “Yes. Excellent. In fact it reminds me of the time I was travelling with Douglas Adams. We stopped at an old english tavern for dinner and a pint. The stew there was amazing but by the time it came we were already a few pints in……”

The other's continued eating their fine dinner, enjoying The Doctor's story (or perhaps tall tale it was hard to tell sometimes), and occasionally piping in with a skeptical question or teasing comment. It was the happy comfortable mood of a family dinner on one of those perfect evenings when everyone is feeling content. Graham was just wondering if he should dish up seconds or save room for dessert, when the familiar whiny groaning sound began and they all stopped. “What the…” he started but The Doctor was half way to the door with Ryan and Yaz right on her heels. Graham pushed himself to his feet and quickly followed. As soon as he entered the control room he froze.

Standing at the console stood the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. She was tall and slim to the point of seeming stretched but the smooth tight muscles showing on her bared arms and calves belied any sense of delicateness. Her skin was so smooth and white it seemed to almost shimmer with unseen color like a perfect opal. Her head was smooth and her features fine boned with green almond shaped eyes that tilted up at the edges. She wore a pure white silken shift that formed itself to her delicate curves and shimmered like her skin. She seemed both young and fresh, ancient and wise, timeless and ageless all at once. They all stood mesmerized by her beauty as she reached up a strong delicate fine boned hand, touched a clawed nail to the amulet at her neck, and vanished.

“Who was that?” asked Graham breathless.

The Doctor shook herself and leapt to the console, “Good question.”

Ryan shivered “or what? Wow. And how could she work The TARDIS?”

The Doctor grimaced. “Another good question.”

Yaz was already looking over another section of console. “Doctor, where are we? We seem to have landed somewhere but I can't seem to get any readings.”

The Doctor waved a hand in their direction without looking up. “Yes, yes. All good questions. Please, just give me a moment.” She moved from one section of console to another making adjustments, turning dials, flicking switches, and finally she just reached up and banged the side of the overhead monitor with the flat of her hand, but nothing she did gave her any answers.

Yaz exchanged worried glances with Graham and Ryan. “What is it, Doctor? What do you see?”

“I see nothing. According to all the readings we are no where; completely outside of time and space; a place with no form or definition. It is nothing, nowhere, a true anti-reality.” She looked up at them with awe on her face, then broke into a great smile, and headed for the door. “Oh I have so got to see this.”

Graham startled. “What? No!”

At the same time Yaz tried to reach for The Doctor. “Doctor wait.” But it was too late The Doctor threw open the door, stopped, tilted her head, and stepped through. The three companions quickly glanced at each other, ran to the door where they could see the Doctor, and then followed her out into the line of fire.

 

Ow wee ooow… {Cue opening credits}

Commercial break  
Three things I love in fandom and recommend:  
Verity Podcast  
Big Finish Audio Dramas  
The novel, Day Of The Doctor


	2. Booklord

2-

Deb sat at her library desk with several books laid out around her. She was focused on scanning through the prose of the book on greek mythology open in front of her. Then she saw it, a wrinkle in the story, a hint of a feel that something was off. She went back and read the little section in Theseus and the Labyrinth again. There it was. “Yes! Found it!” her exclamation woke Hanna, the plump old calico, who had been sleeping on her favorite padded stool. Hanna opened one eye gave a hurump and went back to sleep. Kat, the fluffy yellow tabby, walked over from where she'd been laying in the inbox and looked at the pages. Deb pointed with her psychic fountain pen. “See right there. That's it.” Kat gave it a sniff, growled low in her throat, and pounced on the book. Deb retrieved the book before Kat could dive in completely. “Right. Good. Confirmed.” She touched the tip of her pen to the spread sheet. In the columns Book/ Section/ Point:  
A Collection of Earths Greek Mythology Retold/ Theseus and the Labyrinth/ Theseus starts unwinding the thread  
appeared below  
Bardic Voices Book 1: The Lark and The Wren by Mercedes Lackey/ Chapter 23/ at the gate to the faire,  
Book of Logic: 101 logic problems/ Beginners puzzle #7/ Clue 4,  
Finding Darkness by Shii Faa/ Car §¥/ Entry to level Ω,  
and above,  
Uncanny Magazine Issue 26/ The House on the Moon by William Alexander/ Ana's Abuela outside the elevator  
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austin/ chapter 42/ decision to visit Pemberton.

She shivered as she looked at the sheet and then looked around to where Hugo, the solid black male yearling kitten, and Cody, the young adult male chocolate point Siamese, lay waiting in the spare reading chair. “And your sure that's all of them?” Hugo sat up and purred enthusiastically. Cody rolled his eyes but nodded. “Not that these aren't enough. They are attacking from every direction at once.” She shook her head. She had never acted without the direction of The Central Index to coordinate but the situation was getting dire. The attack was from every direction. If the defense wasn't in all directions at once the universes and dimensions could be thrown out of balance and destroy each other but if action wasn't taken soon then reality itself would begin to unravel. She took several deep breaths, closed her eyes, quieted her mind, and reached out listening for even a faint whisper that would tell her The Central Index was still there; but there was only silence. She opened her eyes, sighed, straighten the pile of six books that were at risk, gathered up the volumes that were already showing minor past damage, and stood to reshelf them.

She was just about to the first case when a whiny wheezing filled the library and a large blue box materialized behind her. She dropped the books, drew out her pen, and pointed it at the box. Hugo ran off to hide. Kat and Cody flanked her, puffing up and growling. Nothing happened immediately so she quick looked around for something/anything she could defend herself with. Hanna had wandered off. There was nothing. It was impossible to enter The Library, so there was no defense. A door opened in the box and a fierce looking blond woman in heavy boots and an all blue outfit with stripes over the chest (certainly some sort of military uniform) stepped out and bared her teeth. Deb backed up never lowering her pen until she bumped into the bookcase. Then three more intruders jumped out and she had no choice; the Library needed to be defended. She grabbed the first thing that came to hand and threw it with all her might at the invaders. The book found a mark as one of them cursed, but she didn't delay. She threw one book right after the other as the intruders yelled, ordering her to stop, and waved their arms. Then Kat and Cody attacked, teeth bared and claws out. The intruders, ill prepared to face a defensive force, dove back into their box and slammed the door behind them. She leaned into the near empty shelves and tried to catch her breath. Her heart was slamming in her chest and she was shaking. For just a moment she wondered if she was going to have a heart attack. Then she looked at the blue box, which didn't seem to be leaving, the books all over the floor, and the two blood spattered bedraggled cats wondering what could she do when they next attacked.

 

“What, the blood hell, was that?” Graham growled as he tried to staunch the blood flow from a cut over his eye, where he'd been hit by the first book, with his handkerchief. He looked over at Yaz and Ryan who both had arms that were scratched and bleeding. 

The Doctor, looking untouched, turned to them. “I think we may have scared her.”

Ryan was pressing the heel of his hand over a particularly deep scratch. “She didn't seem all that scared to me. Scary yeh, but not scared. And what was with those cats?”

Yaz smoothed back her hair where a stray book had mussed it and dabbed at a few scratches with the tail of her shirt. “Really, Ryan? Scary? It was a granny in a caftan and house shoes waving a pen at us.”

“And throwing books and attack cats.” Reminded Ryan.

Yaz frowned. “Well, yeh, there was that. But I still think she's just a scared old lady. I mean think about it: a box materializes out of no where and four strangers jump out invading your home. You'd be scared too.”

“Okay. I'll give you that.” Said Graham. “So why don't we just do everyone a favor and get out of here? It's not like we asked to come.”

They all turned to The Doctor, who had her nose all scrunched up thinking. “Nope. Don't think so. Defiantly something not right here and I think that woman out there needs our help.”

“Doc, how are we gonna help her when we can't even get out to talk to her?”  
The Doctor frowned, looked around, then with a snap brightened and grabbed Graham's handkerchief “I've got a plan.”

About 15 minutes later, after they'd washed and cleaned their various scratches and bruises, The Doctor cracked the door and waved an umbrella with Graham's handkerchief tied to the end out the door. Graham rolled his eyes and in soto voice said. “Now we're surrendering. Brilliant plan.”

Ryan smiled. Yaz shot him a dirty look. The Doctor waved and absentminded hand at him and whispered, “Quiet. We don't want to scare her.”

“Too late.” A voice called back. “ You already scared the living daylights out of me.” The Doctor peaked out and saw that the woman had pulled over a desk chair facing the TARDIS and was sitting waiting. When she saw The Doctor she stood and waved her out. “Stop waving that silly thing around and come on out. If you all wanted to attack you would've done before now. I won't throw anything at you. It was enough of a hassle having to pick them all up once. I don't want to have to do it again.”

“Thank you.” Smiled The Doctor, stepping out. “We really didn't mean to scare you. I'm sorry about that.”

The other's followed her out. Ryan looked around at the cats. “uh. What about the cats?”

The old lady have him a dirty look. “What about them? They live here. You don't. If you don't like it then you can just get back in your box and leave. You shouldn’t even be here. No one should be able to come here. So come have a seat and tell me what you're all doing here and how you got here.” She led them over to a small sitting area in front of an unlit fireplace with two well padded wing chairs and two soft stools, pushed the desk chair at Ryan, and sat down in the well worn wing chair and the only piece of furniture not supporting a cat. A fluffy yellow tabby leapt into her lap and laid down facing them. 

The Doctor smiled at the Siamese in the other chair. “May I join you?” The cat stood gave a long languid stretch and then jumped down to lay on the rug in front of the fire screen. “Thank you.” She said and sat down.

The little black cat on the stool next to The Doctor stretched up and put his paws on Yaz then with a leap climbed onto her shoulders. Yaz sat on the stool and the little cat climbed into her lap and began to purr when she scratched his head. Ryan had already sat in the desk chair leaving only the stool next to their hostess, which was occupied by a rather large calico with a sweet face and soft looking fur. Graham reached toward her and then pulled back when she gave him a dirty look and a low growl.

“oh for heaven’s sakes. Grab a chair from the reading table. It's two cases over.” She waved past the TARDIS. They waited for Graham then their hostess asked again. “Okay. So who are you and how did you get here?”

“I'm The Doctor.” She said with a vigorous hand shake. “And these are my friends, Yaz, Ryan, and Graham. And who might you be?”

“You mean you don't know?” asked the old woman surprised.

The Doctor smiled and shook her head. “Haven't a clue.”

“I am the Booklord and this,” she indicated the large area with a broad wave, “is my Library. My companions are Kat” she petted the Tabby. “This” she indicated the calico next to her “is Hanna. He's Cody.” The siamese nodded. “and the kitten who is so smitten with your young lady is Hugo.” She looked from one uncomprehending face to the next and sighed. “just call me Deb. So if you don't even know about this place, then how did you get here?”

“Well the thing is we don't actually know.” The Doctor began. “We were finishing up our dinner when we heard our ship preparing to travel and since there was no one else on the TARDIS and I should be the only one it will respond to we were a bit surprised. So we went right to the control room to find an impossibly beautiful woman piloting my ship. She was tall, willowy, but strong. She had green tilted eyes slitted like a cats and she was a shimmering perfect white all over. Then she just vanished and we landed here.”  
First Deb looked startled, then she relaxed back into her chair, and smiled. “Shimmer brought you here. Oh thank goodness. The Library is still safe. And if Shimmer was there then so was Fen.”

The Doctor look hopeful. “She was alone but you know her and why she's brought us here?”

“Yes and no. The woman you saw could only have been Shimmer The Central Index's library cat. She never travels with out her partner Fen but you wouldn't have noticed him. All library cats, with the exception of Shimmer, can translate into any story. Most can only translate into a place and time actually recorded but Shimmer is special; Once she has any point in any part of anyone’s story she can translate to what ever point and time of that person's story she chooses. And as a guardian of The Central Index only she or Fen could arrange for entry into a Library. You wouldn't have noticed Fen because when a library cat translates they and whomever they take along become a totally non descripts back ground character of so little important to the story that no one ever even notices them. So yes I know who, but I don't know why?”

And with perfect timing two more cats walked with authority into the center of the circle turned to face Deb and The Doctor and sat down. They were both larger than normal cats almost twice the size. The first was a pure white female oriental with angled green eyes that radiated an air of authority. The second was a powerfully muscled grey male that radiated strength and confidence. The white looked around meeting the eyes of each person in the room and then all at once a regal female voice filled each of their minds. “I am Shimmer. This is Fen. We have brought you all here and together because the other 5 Librarians have fallen and The Central Index has crashed. The balance of dimensions and universes has been compromised. And unless we reset the balance all of reality will unravel.”

TIME FOR A COMMERCIAL BREAK  
Three of the six books/stories listed are real and all excellent reads.  
Bardic Voices Book 1: The Lark and The Wren by Mercedes Lakey  
Uncanny Magazine Issue 26/ The House on the Moon by William Alexander  
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austin


	3. What is Reality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ones expositiony but gets everything set up so we can get right into the action tomorrow.

3-

While The Doctor, Yaz, Graham, and Ryan looked startled by the pronouncement of impending doom, Deb looked absolutely stricken. The old woman had gone white, her eyes were wide, her hands shook, and Yaz was afraid she might pass out. Yaz leapt over to her and took a cold hand in her own warm ones. “Deb. Are you okay? Can you here me? Deb. Answer me.”

Deb closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and squeezed Yaz's hand. Then she leaned over, took several more slow deep breaths, and sat back up only to sink deep into her chair. “I'll be alright. I just need a moment. The shock. All the other Libraries empty. The Central Index crashed. One book from each direction under critical attack with all the other defenders just gone.” Tears formed in her eyes. “It's just too too much. What hope is there? What can be done?” then she began to cry in earnest. Yaz leaned into the old woman and just held her as she cried quietly.

Graham stood up and headed to The TARDIS. “Let me just grab some tea to help calm the nerves eh.”

The Doctor quickly followed. “Right and some biscuits.”

By the time they got back with the tea and biscuits, Yaz was back on her stool, Deb had everyone of her four companions in physical contact, she had a bit of color back, and she'd stopped crying. She took the cup of tea Graham offered her with only slightly shaking hands. 

Once everyone was settled back in place with their tea, The Doctor turned back to the patiently waiting Shimmer. “Forgive me but I don't fully understand. Clearly the threat is quite daunting but we know nothing of the Libraries or Central Index and aren't understanding what the threat is or what we can do to help.”

“Of course. Let me explain.” Nodded Shimmer. “many years ago Doctor, you said yourself that we are all stories. You did not know how right you were. You, like most species, believe that stories are either real or fiction. But in reality we are surrounded by an infinity of dimensions and universes. What this means is that there is no fiction, every story everywhere is reality somewhere somewhen. Also, every life in every place and time is its self a story to someone else and the greater the life the more stories you touch. All of theses stories are in constant flux and in constant balance and weave together to create the very fabric of reality. And if those stories that are established are changed the balance is disrupted. If the disruption is big enough or comes at a linchpin moment in a story or a moment that impacts many connected stories, then it can act like a dropped stitch causing the entire fabric to come unraveled. 

There are two forces not part of these realities that are yet acting on the stories, Destruction and Creation, always working at odds. Creation comes from what you would understand as Muses, creatures that 'whisper' inspiration and encouragement to all creatures blessed with imagination. Destruction comes from what we call Bookworms, creatures that crawl throughout reality disrupting lives and stories from fulfilling all that they were meant to be.  
There are six of each; One for each direction, right, left, forward, back, up, and down. Most of the time they mostly balance each other out and often the bookworms disruptions are minor, like an unseen little snag, but when a bookworm finds one of those pivotal points it can do great damage. 

This is where The Booklords and their companions, the library cats come in. Whenever a bookworm is closing in on the critical point in an established story A Booklord and A Library Cat translate into the story to terminate them from the story and repair any damage that may have been done. This must be done in pairs as only The Library Cats can sense, identify, and destroy a Bookworm but they cannot interact with any of the characters. A Booklord or partner needs to be the one to fix any errors and they must do it unseen and unnoted so that they themselves do not become part of the story.

But still the balance must be kept and if there are multiple critical points at risk, then they must all be dealt with simultaneously, or else one direction will be weak while another is strong. 

This is where The Central Index comes in, it tracks all the bookworms and communicates to The Booklords, so that they all act in conjunction or in balance with each other. Also the Central Index identifies potential Booklords that can be recruited out of reality without creating their own critical flaw.

This entire Library Network survives just out side the stories that make up all of reality and must stay so, for the moment they become a part of reality they become visible and vulnerable to the Bookworms who would destroy us”

The Doctor nodded “and let me guess somehow somewhere your other libraries became a part of the reality.”

This time Fen nodded. “Yes. One of the Booklords was separated from her Cat as he went after the bookworm and she worked to undo the damage. During this separation she came into contact with a muse and never even realized since only a cat can see them. Then when she returned to her Library she felt inspired to write down a funny little story,” Deb audibly gasped and went pale but Fen continued. “The story told of a communication between the Central Index, her, and the other four Booklords. The ink was not yet dry when the bookworms in those directions sensed them and attacked pulling them out of their Libraries and fully back into reality unable to return.  
With only one Library left there was no center so the Central Index crashed. And the bookworms knowing there were no Booklords to stop them all made straight for critical points in the closest established story they could find. Deb and her companions, being the best and most effective Booklord family we've ever had, were already identifying the critical points, so it was for Shimmer and I to find the people that could be trusted to partner with the Cats to stop them once they were found.”

Yaz set down her cup. “Wait a minute. Are you saying… You want us to become Booklords?”

Shimmers voice was back. “No! You are all far to intertwined in too many stories. But we knew that due to your time traveling nature you could be pulled temporarily out of reality to help us stop these six concerted attacks, thus restoring the balance just long enough for me to recruit one more Booklord. With two Libraries active there will be a center between them and The Central Index can be reset. With The Central Index reset we can recruit to fill the other four Libraries and the full balance will be restored. So will you all do it? Will you help us to save reality?”

 

TIME FOR A COMMERCIAL BREAK

If you haven't listened to The Season 11 soundtrack yet, you are missing out on some amazing feels inspiring music.

If you like podcasts you should checkout the Incomparable Network. There are several fun podcasts there for the nerd in all of us.

My favorite Incomparable Network Podcast is Lazy Doctor Who.


	4. 4- Graham and Prejudice

4-

Graham nodded. “Not sure I got all that but yeh. Unless the Doc here has some objection, I'm in.”

Ryan looked to Yaz and The Doctor. “Well, it's sorta what we do helping people right?”

Yaz gave a small frown. “and we have to split up? Can't go in pairs? Just seems like it'd be safer that way.”

Fen answered “The cats can only translate one person at a time but they will be your partner and besides more people would mean more risk of exposure. Trust them they've all done this before.”

Yaz thought a moment. “Yeh, I'm in.” and then turned to the Doctor.

“Oh I'm happy to help. As Ryan said, that's what we do but there’s only four of us, five with Deb, And six attacks. So where is the sixth defender?”

Shimmer answered this time. “I will go alone into The Darkness. It is far to dangerous for anyone else and I have advantages on that odd plane of existence others do not.” She turned to Fen but they all heard. “I understand you don't like it, but that is how it must be if we have any chance to succeed.”

The Doctor stood up with a slap to her thighs. “Okay then. Onward and upward as the saying goes.”

Deb pushed herself to her feet and lead them all over to the desk where she opened each of the six books to the correct spot. The cats were all standing around the books on the large desktop with the humans around the desk leaning in to get better looks at the books. Deb started. “Okay then we'll need to figure out who's pairing with who and match best pairs to each task. Also, there are three things it's imperative you remember. One: Only your cat can get you back. Two: Interact as little as…..”

Hanna gave an exacerbated sigh of boredom, hooked her claws into Grahams arm, and translated.

One moment Graham was leaning on the desk listening closely to Deb's instructions and then the desk was gone and he fell over onto the cold hard packed dirt ground. “What the…” He looked up at the handsome slightly heavyset middle-aged woman, with thick hair in patches of blond, black, and ginger wearing a simple brown Victorian dress over boots, standing over him with a look of resigned disgust on her face. “Hanna?” He asked

“Uh, yeh.” The clear ‘duh' was not verbalized. “Come on. I dropped us as close to the critical moment as I could get, so wouldn't be stuck here any longer than need be.” And she started toward the inn a few paces away.

“What happened? Where are we? Deb hadn't even finished her instructions.” Graham got up and rushed to catch up.

Hanna threw out an arm, hitting him in the chest, and stopped him just before they rounded the corner to the Inns entrance. “Blah, blah, blah. Lot of excess noise. Do as your told. Don't get into trouble. And don't go anywhere without me. Now follow me and keep your mouth shut.”

Graham grumbled something uncomplimentary about cats under his breath and followed. Hanna led him into the Inn and over to a poorly lit corner table. He started to ask a question only to be shushed with a stern look. Hanna was scanning the room from time to time while watching the door. Graham looked around himself and noticed everyone was in Victorian garb and it looked like a Victorian period inn. He hadn't had time to see all the stories but thought one had been Pride n Prejudice so maybe. His guess was confirmed when a young woman came in with a middle-aged couple discussing going to Pemberton. A non descript man he hadn't noticed before said something about being a bad time of year to travel the roads to Pemberton.

Hanna's ears perked, her eyes narrowed, and she whispered harshly. “That's him, the Bookworm, prey.” She started to stand and Graham grabbed her arm.

“Wait a minute. What do I do?”

She rolled her eyes at him but answered. “See where they sat.” she pointed at the young woman with the middle-aged couple. “Walk along behind them and casually mention how you just came up from Pemberton and it was a fine drive. But say it like your talking to someone else. Then get out before anyone talks to you and meet me round the corner of the Inn.” And then she strode off after the Bookworm a knife appearing in her hand.

Graham frowned but didn't follow. Then he got up and carefully moved past the table where Elizabeth(?)’s Aunt was reminiscing about visiting Pemberton as a young lady. He then turned and started toward the door. This time as he past the table he said as if to a passerby. “Yup. Just came from Pemberton today. Amazing property that and a nice ride through the countryside.” Then he made tracks for the door nearly bumping into a guy on his way out. Once outside he rushed around the corner and stopped. No Hanna anywhere to be seen. He was just wondering what to do next when he heard a quiet scream quickly cut off and Hanna came around the rear corner wiping the bloody knife off with a torn rag. “My God. Did you…”

“Relax.” She scowled. “It was a bookworm. He's not actually dead. It'll just slow him down, reforming before he can go after another story. He's missed his chance with this one. Did you do as I told you?”

“ Yeh and got out quick after. Almost tripped over a guy to get out of there.”

She gave another scowl. “Did anyone notice you?”

“Nope. Don't think so.” Graham answered.

“Fine. Let's go.”

“Wait. Shouldn't we stick around and make sure.”

Hanna scoffed. “Right and give you more time here to possibly mess things up. I don't think so.” With that she grabbed his arm, touched the pendent at the base of her throat, and dropped him back into the Library.

Commercial Break  
Three other books I've enjoyed (and the movies are all good too):  
The Time Traveler's Wife By Audrey Niffeneger  
Sully by Capt. Chesley Sullenberber  
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee


	5. 5- Empty Library

5-

Graham looked around at the empty library. “Where'd everybody go?” 

Hanna's voice filled his head as she jumped down and headed toward her stool. “Onto their own assignments, I assume. Amazed they're not all still standing around discussing what to do instead of getting on with doing it.”

Graham gave the cat a dirty look, still unhappy with the sudden departure. “How will we know if we succeeded?”

He heard her sigh in his head. “I'm sure it's fine, but if you must confirm, you can read the book for yourself and see if there's any change. Actually, you might as well. It may be awhile. The others aren't as efficient as I am.” With that he felt her voice leave his head and saw she'd curled up on the stool and appeared to be sleeping.

Graham looked over the desk and saw amongst the books a spread sheet with a list of the books on the table along with the chapters and sections. In the forth unlabeled column were names with Graham in the Pride and Prejudice row and a check mark next to his name. Well that was something any ways. He checked the other names. Ryan was in the Theseus and The Labyrinth row. The Bardic Voices row had Yaz. The Doctor looked to be going into The Book of Logic. Shimmer had said she was taking Finding Darkness. And that left Deb in The House on The Moon. He wonder what cat was with each of them a bit worried, then reminded himself that all the others had seemed far friendlier than Hanna and hoped the best for them all as there was nothing else he could do.

He looked around one last time at the empty library and down at the open books. Finally he lifted Pride and Prejudice, walked over to settle into the wing chair The Doctor had used, and began to read. It had been a few years but he expected he'd be able to spot any major changes.

 

Oow Wee Ooo…. Closing Credits

The Booklord, her Library, and her cat companions were all inspired by Verity Podcast which can be found at:  
https://veritypodcast.wordpress.com/  
Or on Twitter @VerityPodcast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of episode 1 of The Booklord. Look for episode 2, coming soon.


End file.
